Doctors and nurses have reacted angrily to the latest recruitment embargo announced by the HSE.

The HSE has said that no new doctors, nurses or midwives are to be recruited to the health service until further notice - a move which has been greeted with shock by health professionals.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), the health service is already operating ‘under severe strain due to lack of staffing'.

"We are short by over 3,600 nurses and midwives already and this embargo will make an intolerable situation utterly impossible. Nurses and midwives are at breaking point due to increasing demand for health services and staff shortages caused by previous embargoes during the recession.

"It is simply not possible to deliver safe care with such an embargo in place and this irresponsible act on the part of the HSE will cost lives," insisted INMO deputy general secretary, David Hughes.

Meanwhile, the move has also been condemned by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which represents doctors in Ireland. According to its president, Dr John Duddy, this move is a ‘hammer blow' to efforts to tackle the ongoing manpower crisis within the health service.

He pointed out that currently, there are 300 vacant consultant posts ‘and newly qualified doctors are emigrating rather than staying to work here'.

"We are experiencing unprecedented difficulty in encouraging doctors to work in our public health service and in these circumstances it is ironic that the message from the HSE is don't bother to apply - there is no future in Irish public hospitals.

"This is an affront to everyone working in the health service and will convince doctors that there is no future in an under resourced health service. Inevitably patients will continue to suffer in our Emergency Departments (EDs), face longer waiting lists and see their elective surgeries cancelled," Dr Duddy said.

He noted that the IMO recently had a ‘very positive meeting' with the new Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and while the Minister said he is anxious to ensure the recruitment and retention of doctors, ‘this move by the HSE simply flies in the face of that policy'.

"Our hospitals already operate above the generally recognised occupancy benchmark (92.5%) where mortality rates increase as a result of overcrowding. This ban on recruitment will mean our hospitals will be condemned to continue to operate at occupancy levels we know are unsafe," Dr Duddy added.